Rail-joint.



PATBNTED JULY 2, 1907.

B. WOLHAUPTER.

RAIL JOINT.

APPLIOATION- FILED AUG. s, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

amine/sou nm E T P U A H Tu 0 W R RAIL JOINT.

APPLIOATION rnnn we. a, 1908.

2 SHEETS-8HEET a.

v v I 6mm, I

THE NORRIS FEIIRS co., wlsnmcrou, p, c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN WOLHAUPTER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE RAIL JOINT COMPANY,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

RAIL-JOINT Patented July 2, 1907.

Application filed August 8, 1906. Serial No. 329,754.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN WOLHAUPTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the subject of rail joints, and has special reference to means for facilitating the application of rail joints in laying rails.

To this end the invention has primarily in view a novel and practical expedient which will enable .trackmen to apply rail joints to rails with facility and accuracy, and at the same time obviate the difficulties sometimes experienced in heeling-in the second rail into the joint after the application of the rail joint members to the first rail. In this function the invention possesses special utility in connection with those types of rail joints exemplified by what are now known to railway engineers as the Wolhaupter and continuous rail joints, which are characterized by the employment of a supporting base or base truss in conjunction with the side angle plates. In these forms of rail joints, the several members of the joint are usually loosely assembled and mounted upon the end of the first rail which is then lifted into place on the ties preparatory to introducing or heeling-in the end,'

of the second rail within the rail-receiving space of the joint. Careless and unskilled trackmen frequently do not carry out this operation with the ease and facility which maybe desired at all times, and it is therefore the purpose of the present invention to provide any type of rail joint, wherein a heeling-in operation is generally carried out, with definite rail guiding and I supporting means which serve to support or guide the end of the second rail for centering at the entrance to i the mouth of the rail receiving space whereby-the rail may be at once, and accurately, guided into said space to its proper abutting relation to the other rail.

With these and other objects in view, which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

The essential feature of the invention involved in the provision of a rail joint with rail-guiding and supporting means, aside from the joint proper, is necessarily susceptible to a wide range of structural modification without departing from the scope of the invention, but preferable illustrative embodiments of the latter are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a base-supporting -type of rail joint embodying the present invention.

end of the firstrail, and showing in dotted lines the end of the second rail in the position which it occupics when about to be heeled-in the rail-receiving space of the joint. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the baseplate of the Wolhaupter type of joint modified to meet the requirements of the present invention. Fig. 4 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 2 exemplifying the application of the invention to the continuous type of rail joint. Fig. 5 is a similar view to 'Fig. 4 illustrating the application of the invention to the common angle bar type of rail joint.

In carrying out the invention the same is. necessarily applicable to any type of rail joint wherein the joint members are first mounted upon the end of the first rail, and the second rail is afterwards introduced into or heeled-in the rail-receiving space of the joint before the parts are finally adjusted and the bolts tightened up. Also, the means or expedient contemplated by the invention for accomplishing the desired result may be variously designed, arranged, or located with reference to the individual members of the joint without affecting the spirit of the invention, but inasmuch as the latter possesses specialutility in connection with that type of rail joints exemplified by the Wolhaupter and continuous joints, the latter form of joints are shown in the drawings for illustrative purposes to best accentuate the practical importance of the invention.

Referring to the illustrative embodiment of the in vention shown in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive of the drawings, the rail joint illustrated therein essentially comprises in its general organization the outer and inner side angle plates 1 and 2, respectively, which are arandwhich co-operate with a trussing base or baseplate 3, arranged beneath the abutting rail ends and interlocking with both of said side plates 1 and 2 in the well known manner peculiar to the Wolhaupter rail joint.

In the construction shown, the base-plate 3 of the rail joint is illustrated as of the longitudinally corrugated type provided along one side edge with the engaging shoulder 4, which is drawn and held into engagement with the edge of the outer fiangeoftherail invention, the distinctive feature of which resides in providing one or more of the rail joint members with rail-guiding or supporting means, supplemental t0 the joint proper. In the illustrated form of the invenrail-guiding and supporting means preferably consists of an extension lip or offset 5 formed at each end of the base-plate 3 and preferably projecting one-quarter .to one-half of an inch beyond the ends of the joint .proper.

ranged upon opposite sides of the rail ends A and B,

base, but these details are not essential to the present tion shown in said figures of the drawings, thesaid Thisextension lip or offset is preferably formed .on

whereby the said plate can be made of exactly the same amount, weight and strength of material as the ordinary form of base-plate used in the Wolhaupter or similar type of joint. This is of considerable practical importance both from a manufacturing standpoint and also from an engineering standpoint, and referring more particularly to the said preferable means of shearing the base plate to produce the extension lips or offsets 5, it will be observed by reference to Fig. 3 of the drawings that at each end the plate is sheared, in the plane of its corrugations, on an ogee or sigmoidal line with the result of producing the projecting extension lip or offset 5, and what might be termed a compensating re-entrant complemental recess 6. The projections and recesses 5 and 6 at opposite ends of the base plate are reversely related, that is, the lip or offset 5 at one end of the plate being in the longitudinal plane of the compensating recess 6 at the opposite end of the plate. Hence, this construction necessarily conserves the standardized features of material, weight, and strength in a base plate of this character.

It will be obvious from the construction described that the rail-guiding and supporting element 5 at each end of the base-plate projects beyond the end of the joint proper to guide and support the end of the second rail in heeling-in the latter. It will also be clear from the illustration of Fig. 2 of the drawings, that after the rail-joint members have been loosely assembled and mounted upon the end of the first rail, it is only necessary for the trackman to lift the second rail to a position where its end engages on the element 5. This serves to positively support the second rail end while being brought to a centered or alined position with reference to the rail-receiving space of the joint, so that when this has been done it is only necessary to slide the second rail over the element 5 and into the railreceiving space. After this has been done, the rail joint members are adjusted and tightened up in a manner well known to railway engineers and trackmen.

While a preferable and practical construction and disposition of the rail-guiding and supporting means have been pointed out and illustrated, it will be understood that various changes in the construction and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Also, as already pointed out, the invention is applicable to any type of rail joint wherein a heeling-in operation is generally carried out, as the fundamental thought involved is that of providing one or more of the' rail joint members with rail-guiding and supporting means, supplemental to the joint proper. In some embodiments of the invention these means constitute both guiding and supporting means, although in other embodiments the same may simply act in the capacity of a guiding, or a supporting means, and in order that a comprehensive view of the invention may be obtained, there are illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings other forms of rail joints to which the invention may be applied in a practical manner.

Referring in the first place to Fig. 4 of the drawings, it will be observed that the same illustrates that well known type of joint termed the continuous rail joint and embodying in its organization, in conjunction with the rail ends A and ll, the opposite continuous side angle plates 10 which have extended from and below the outer edges of their foot flanges the usual base flange extensions 12 occupying a substantially horizontal position and lying beneath the base flange of the rail, all in the manner common to said continuous type of rail joint. In adapting the invention to this form of rail joint the same general features are preserved as shown in connection with the Wolhaupter type of joint illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. That is, the base flange or base plate 12 of each angle bar of the continuous type of rail joint maybe formed at one end with an extension lip or offset 13 projecting beyond the end of the joint proper and subserving precisely the same functions as the extension lip or offset 5 hereinbefore described in connection with the Wolhaupter type of rail joint.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. l of the drawings the weight, strength, and amount of material employed in making the joint plates may be conserved in a practical manner by having the lips or offsets 13 of the separate base members or plates 12 revcrsely related, viz: the lip or offset 13 of one base member 12 being located at one end of the joint, and the lip or offset 13 of the other base member 12 being located at the other end of the joint. Also, in carrying out the invention in connection with this particular type of joint, each base member flange or plate 12 is formed at the end opposite its lip or offset 13 with a sheared inset portion 14 compensating for the material used in forming the lip or of f set at the other end, thus preserving the same manufacturing and engineering features already described in connection with the Wolhaupter type of joint.

Again, the invention may be carried out in connection with the common an'gle bar type of rail joint shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, which type of joint simply involves, in conjunction with the rail ends A and ll, the opposite angle plates 15. In adapting the invention thereto, the said angle plates 15 may be formed at each end with an extension lip or offset 16 and a compensating re-entrant complcinental recess 17, these elements 16 and 17 being arranged in the same relation, and constructed in the same manner as the corresponding elements 5 and 6 of the W olhaupter joint herein referred to. However, in this embodiment of the invention, the projecting lips or offsets 16 at the ends of the angle plates 15 particularly snbserve the function of guiding elements or means to facilitate aliniug and heeling-in the second rail, but in this connection it is to be understood that while the drawings in Fig. 5 thereof show extensions 16 on both angle-plates at each end of the joint, yet in the practical carrying out of the invention, one angle-plate only can be made with said projecting lip 16, or offset, the other being without the same.

Other embodiments will suggest themselves to those 1 familiar with the art, and it is believed that those described herein will exemplify the uses and advantages of the improvements claimed.

I claim:

1. A rail joint having a member provided with oppo sitely located and revcrsely related rail guiding elements.

2. A rail joint having a member provided at its ends with diagonally opposite rail guiding elements.

3. A rail joint provided with diagonally opposite rail guiding projections and diagonally opposite recesses coinplemental thereto.

4. A rail joint having a member provided at its ends with diagonally opposite rail guiding projections, and diagonally opposite recesses complemental thereto.

5. A rail joint provided at each end with a rail guiding offset and a recess complemental thereto.

6. A rail joint having a member provided at 'one side of the central longitudinal plane thereof with a rail guiding element.

7. A rail joint having a member provided with ends formed on a sigmoidal line to produce an extension offset and a re-entrant complemental recess.

8. A rail joint having a base-plate provided at its ends with reversely arranged projecting extension lips or offsets.

9. A rail joint having a base-plate provided at each end with a projecting extension lip or offset and a 00111 pensating complemental recess, the projections and recesses at opposite ends of the base-plate being reversely related.

10. A rail joint having one of its members provided with a projecting extension lip or ofiset and a compensating complemental recess, the projections and recesses at opposite ends of said member being reversely related.

11. A rail joint having one of its members provided at its ends with reversely arranged projecting extension lips or offsets.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

V V BENJAMIN WOLHAUPTER.

Witnesses C. B. PITTENGIJR, M. Sownns. 

